Lawmakers in U.S. Territory Vote to Legalize Marijuana

Legislators in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a U.S. territory, have approved a bill to legalize marijuana.

By a margin of 18 – 1, with one abstention, the CNMI House of Representatives passed the legislation, which would end cannabis prohibition for adults over 21 and create a system of taxed and regulated sales. It would also allow medical marijuana and industrial hemp.

In May, the Senate approved a similar marijuana legalization bill. That proposal initially cleared a committee in the House, but its advancement was later brought to a halt in response to procedural concerns that revenue-generating legislation must originate in the House. After first making some changes to the Senate bill, House lawmakers ended up filing a new proposal of their own last week, which won approval by the full chamber on Wednesday morning.